More evidence of the harm masking caused
K-12 school children were masked the longest in the United States
Masking during COVID-19 was a heated topic and remains so as more evidence mounts as to the harms of such a practice.
Over at Instapundit:
UNEXPECTEDLY: The Harm Caused by Masks.
Evidence continues to mount that mask mandates were perhaps the worst public-health intervention in modern American history. While concluding that wearing masks “probably makes little or no difference” in preventing the spread of viruses, a recent Cochrane review also emphasized that “more attention should be paid to describing and quantifying the harms” that may come from wearing masks. A new study from Germany does just that, and it suggests that the excess carbon dioxide breathed in by mask-wearers may have substantial ill-effects on their health—and, in the case of pregnant women, their unborn children’s.
Mask-wearers breathe in greater amounts of air that should have been expelled from their bodies and released out into the open. “[A] significant rise in carbon dioxide occurring while wearing a mask is scientifically proven in many studies,” write the German authors. “Fresh air has around 0.04% CO2,” they observe, while chronic exposure at CO2 levels of 0.3 percent is “toxic.” How much CO2 do mask-wearers breathe in? The authors write that “masks bear a possible chronic exposure to low level carbon dioxide of 1.41–3.2% CO2 of the inhaled air in reliable human experiments.”
In other words, while eight times the normal level of carbon dioxide is toxic, research suggests that mask-wearers (specifically those who wear masks for more than 5 minutes at a time) are breathing in 35 to 80 times normal levels.
More:
As fellow Insta-co-blogger John Tierney wrote late in February: The Real Science on Masks: They Make No Difference.
It has published a new Cochrane review of the literature on masks, including trials during the Covid-19 pandemic in hospitals and in community settings. The trials compared outcomes of wearing surgical masks versus wearing no masks, and also wearing surgical masks versus N95 masks. The review, conducted by a dozen researchers from six countries, concludes that wearing any kind of face covering “probably makes little or no difference” in reducing the spread of respiratory illness.
It may seem intuitive that masks must do something. But even if they do trap droplets from coughs or sneezes (the reason that surgeons wear masks), they still allow tiny viruses to spread by aerosol even when worn correctly—and it’s unrealistic to expect most people to do so. While a mask may keep out some pathogens, its inner surface can also trap concentrations of pathogens that are then breathed back into the lungs.
Whatever theoretical benefits there might be, in clinical trials the benefits have turned out to be either illusory or offset by negative factors. Oxford’s Tom Jefferson, the lead author of the Cochrane review, summed up the real science on masks: “There is just no evidence that they make any difference. Full stop.”
Both of the articles are well worth the time to read in full. The City Journal piece is making the rounds on social media such as Michael Senger’s tweet below highlighting the dangers of masking parents espoused to school boards during school mask mandates.
More To The Story
The CDC was wrong.
Fauci was wrong.
NC DHHS was wrong. So was Governor Cooper.
It took pressure from parents and a letter from the North Carolina Speaker of the House in February 2022 to get the governor to back off masking school kids. When Cooper did relent at a Feb. 17 press conference, he only suggested districts start ending their mask mandates and did not issue an order to make it happen, but by that time, around half of the districts were already rebelling by making masking optional.
The Duke Health ABC Collaborative - which touted its own very flawed study that NC districts used to keep kids masked - was wrong.
The media was wrong. Very wrong. Not just about masks, but in the irresponsible elevation of attacking children on vaccines.
As a parent, I cannot and will not ever forget this headline, albeit a fake, it was kind of spot on:
This fallout of masking of K-12 school children who were kept masked long after public mandates were lifted remains to be seen.
The growing evidence supports that the parents who pushed back on continued masking in schools across the country, including in North Carolina, were right.
Will anyone be held accountable? Probably not.
Here’s a quick snapshot of More To The Story’s coverage of masking:
May 2021
Study: Mask mandates and use not associated with slower state-level COVID-19 spread during surges
"There is inferential but not demonstrable evidence that masks reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission."
June 2021
Lab finds dangerous pathogens on masks submitted by Florida parents
Six masks sent for testing; three had "dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria."
July 2021
Study: Kids shouldn't wear masks; inhaling unhealthy levels of CO2
The study was published by the JAMA Pediatrics Network
Oct. 2021
WHO: Kids 5 and under shouldn't be masked
WHO shifts guidance on child masking citing "psycho-social" and other developmental issues
Jan. 2022
Masklash: The ever-changing (political) science of masking
Trust the Science? CNN's medical analyst now says cloth masks are 'ineffective against omicron'
Feb.2, 2022
Wake County schools official rationalizes masking two-year-olds to help them "accept full mask compliance"
WCPSS Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Paul Koh proposed masking kids 2 and up at the Feb. 1 board meeting
Sept. 2022
Study: School masking of kids made ‘No Significant Difference’ in transmission
The study looked at both masked and unmasked students
Feb. 2023
Large study shows masks make "little to no difference"
CDC places COVID vaccines on childhood immunization schedule